Braids of Song Gwead y Gân by Mari Morgan BMus (Hons), MA. Supervised by: Professor Menna Elfyn and Dr Jeni Williams Submitted in partial fulfilment for the award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Creative Writing University of Wales Trinity Saint David 2019 Er cof am fy nhad, Y Parchedig E D Morgan a ddiogelodd drysor. In memory of my father, the Reverend E D Morgan who preserved a treasure. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS With grateful thanks for the generous support of: North America Wales Foundation (Dr Philip Davies and Hefina Phillips) Welsh Women’s Clubs of America (Barbara Crysler) Welsh Society of Philadelphia (Jack R. Williams, Jr.) Diolch o galon: for the experience and guidance of my supervisors, Professor Menna Elfyn and Dr Jeni Williams, for the friendship and encouragement of Karen Rice, for my siblings always, Nest ac Arwel, for the love and steadfast support of Lisa E Hopkins, and for the unconditional love of my mother, Thelma Morgan. Diolch am fod yn gefn. iv Abstract The desire to recognise the richness, humanity, and cross fertilisation of cultures and identities that built today’s America is the starting point for Braids of Song. Its overarching concerns trace the interrelation between immigration, identity and creativity within a Welsh Trans-Atlantic context. Braids of Song is a mixed-genre collection of stories that acknowledges the preciousness of culture; in particular, the music, which is both able to cross different linguistic boundaries and to breach those between melody and language itself. The stories are shared through four intertwined narrative strands in a mixture of literary styles, ranging from creative non-fiction essays and poems to dramatic monologues. The bequest of a handwritten opera manuscript begins the journey, and three musicians from the past each speak in dramatic monologue: Dr Joseph Parry, Dr Daniel Protheroe, and Marie Novello. The fourth narrative is my own in ysgrif (essay/composition): a medley of reflections and observations in a Welsh-American context. The collection is linked by poems, both found and original, carrying one story to the next and uniting the mixed-genre collection of Braids of Song. The critical commentary debate takes the form of an exploration that may be called, ‘Braided Identities’: identities woven from inherited ‘songs’ that have crossed the Atlantic to America and back again to Wales. The commentary, itself a story, attempts to articulate, analyse and reveal how creative components are enhanced by their cultural and geographical contexts. Keywords: Immigration, identity, creativity, Welsh-American, song. v TABLE OF CONTENTS SIGNED DECLARATION ii DEDICATION iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv ABSTRACT v TABLE OF CONTENTS vi PART ONE: Braids of Song, Gwead y Gân 1. Introduction 1 2. By Braids of Song 2 3. Arianwen, Picturesque Opera at Pontyates 3 4. There are treasures in this house 11 5. Singing Through the Pain 12 6. Arianwen in America Monologue in three acts (and postlude), Fall 1899 15 6.1 Overture: Personal Paragraph, Joseph Parry and Welsh Opera in America 16 6.2 Act 1: Opening Night in Danville 17 6.3 Scena: Personal Paragraph, Gomer Thomas 28 6.4 Act II: The Mad Scene 29 6.5 Recitative: Personal Paragraph, ‘Had he broken the ties of sentimentality’ 36 6.6 Act III: Sire of Song, Still’d 37 6.7 Postlude: Writing about death is for the living 47 6.8 An Obituary for the Welsh diaspora of America, 1903 48 6.9 Personal Paragraph, Joseph Parry 51 6.10 The Shattered Harp 52 6.11 Chief of Song 53 7. Croeso! Bienvenido! Welcome to the United States of America 54 8. Simple Gifts, Tornados and Harps 58 vi 9. A Well-Tailored American Monologue through-composed with a tapestry of notes of 1926 65 9.1 Chicago i’r Ystrad / Hiraeth 66 9.2 A coat, not a jacket! 67 9.3 A musician bespoke 71 9.4 Savile Row Tailoring Terms 72 9.5 Advertisement 73 9.6 Beat time, don’t let time beat you! 74 9.7 Letters from Daniel Protheroe to ‘Annwyl Gyfaill’ 9.7.1 August 15, 1926 87 9.7.2 November 21, 1926 88 9.8 All in evening clothes: Sunday, November 28th, 1926 89 9.9 Letter from Daniel Protheroe to ‘Annwyl Gyfaill’ (Tachwedd 30, 1926) 90 9.10 Decorating a Carol for Christmas 91 9.11 Cwympodd ein Harwr 96 10. Finding a Voice in the Valley 98 11. Côr Cymry Gogledd America: Syllable by syllable, note by note! 103 12. ‘Song’ 110 13. Trauma Shared in a Nation’s Song 111 14. Grief’s Flow 129 15. Étude de Concert: Cân fy nwylo The Last Interview and other conversations 130 15.1 Memories 131 15.2 Certificates of life and death 132 15.3 [Ysbryd, Angau] 133 15.4 The Last Interview 133 15.5 With Lily 152 15.6 [Wil Ifan speaks] 153 16. Shawl of Lullabies ~ Siôl Hwiangerddi 155 vii PART TWO: Braids of Song, Gwead y Gân - Blending Identities, Braiding Cultures and Weaving Songs 163 INTRODUCTION i. Exposition 164 ii. Description 164 iii. Music and Cultural Journeys 165 CHAPTER 1: Style and Form i. Form 166 ii. Language and Creativity 167 CHAPTER 2: Creativity, Immigration and the Rich Complexity of Braided Identity i. Arianwen: Welsh in an American Context 170 ii. Music and Identity 170 CHAPTER 3: Research and Sources 173 CHAPTER 4: Practice i. The Monologue 175 ii. Reflections on the Individual Creative Pieces 179 a. Arianwen in America 179 b. A Well-Tailored American 184 c. Étude de Concert: Cân fy nwylo 187 AFTERWORD: Reflecting on Self-reflections i. Strategies for Creative Non-fiction 192 ii. Culture and Identity 193 PART THREE: i. Coda 196 ii. Legacy 198 PART FOUR: i. Bibliography 199 ii. Appendix 210 viii Introduction: Braids of Song is a musical celebration of life in stories. Each stori sydyn (quick story) begins with Arianwen. Every song has its story, and each story has its song, with the voice of the singer or singers, being the storyteller. They all reveal their tales, both real and imagined, with details interweaving between times and overlapping in a blend of genres and styles showing what it is to be a Welsh immigrant with a creative soul in the vast land of opportunity that is America. The form is reminiscent of a grand concert with guest artists, a chorus, and an emcee who keeps the flow moving. The programme includes a mixture of classic oldies as well as new material. Blending identities, braiding cultures, and weaving songs are the themes of our concert in words, showing how immigration to a new country can alter a person, how the challenges and opportunities of the new are balanced with a sense of loss for the old, and how the creative output is affected in the process of assimilating to a new culture. Braids of Song 1 By Braids of Song One river, many voices, in unclouded clarity. Over smooth pebbles, through pooled stones, the streaming sighs of Alpine seat, in majesty overflows. Eyotic castles skirted by streams of ceaseless melodies blended as one, to waves of euphony. Rippled tides of dreams, spirits on shamanic motion ways to new worlds, crossed unseen. Breath inhaled in purity, deep stillness of life flowing. All is well, in the shapeshifting songs of home. 2 Arianwen, Picturesque Opera at Pontyates [A conversation between my father and me with his voice telling the story.] Did I ever tell you about the time that I conducted an opera? Had he ever! We’d heard about it for years, but truthfully, we didn’t really listen. It was just Dad going on about one of the many things that he’d done during his life. ‘I’ve found your baton, Dad. It’s a bit wonky though!’ Wel, ti’n gweld…I bought it over sixty years ago. I sent away for it by mail order after I’d saved up enough to buy it. I needed a long baton to conduct the orchestra as well as the ensemble. Everybody needed to be able to see my white stick wherever they were on the stage, or in the pit. Wedi’r cwbwl, I was the one keeping it all together. Oh, how I knew how that felt. Wasn’t I doing exactly that right now? And had I not experienced similar challenges as a conductor of Côr Cymry Gogledd America? Arianwen, that’s what the opera was called. I’ve still got the score somewhere. Somewhere, indeed! He knew exactly where he’d put it for safekeeping, but he wasn’t telling. Even now. He knew where to find any book amid his mountainous piles of books. Cofia nawr, there are treasures in this house. That was the response I’d get every time I’d try to move his books or do some rearranging. His memory and observation were as sharp as ever, and his sense of order never diminished. Every time I tried to move his stacks, Dad noticed. He didn’t want his treasures moved. As his illness advanced, the more I had to move. As his story rolled on, his voice became impassioned and his mannerisms animated, as we always returned to Arianwen… The entire village was involved in the production. There’d never been anything like it in Pontiets – nor has there been since. There were four performances of Arianwen 3 at the Welfare Hall, and we were sold out, every night. We were the Pontyates Operatic Society – I gave it the title. You’ve got to have something to live up to in life.